not what i was expecting

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I am in my peds/maternity rotation. I took my exam and I failed it. I was so confident that I had passed because I understood the material and seemed to breeze thru the questions on the exam, I didn't find the questions extremely difficult. When the professor told me my grade I couldn't believe it and had to double check because for all the effort I put toward studying for this exam, it seems to have got me no where in the end. I have one more exam to take and then I have the final which is worth 40% of our grade. Passing is a 70 and I have a 72 average in the class. I need some motivation or words of encouragement. I feel like giving up and that all hope is lost for me. I did the same exact studying as I did for the previous tests so I don't really see a need to change in the way I study and I did many practice questions

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What did you notice you did wrong when you went through your exam? Did you neglect to notice key words in the question? Like "except" "but", "first", etc? That was my problem in nursing school when I took my exams early on...

Next, don't be so hard on yourself. Bad test grades happen, especially in nursing school, but the hit hurts none-the-less. Though your average is 72%, keep in mind that averages are harder to dip than you think, ya gotta keep in mind that the probability of you performing in such a way to significantly dip your overall average is slim. Failing tests in nursing school is easier than general courses because they raise the passing curve, but again, keep in mind, overall averages are hard to knock off fast.

You can do this. The worst thing you can do in this scenario is go into this with a negative attitude. You've got your motivation to keep on top of your studies, especially in this course. This course obviously takes priority in your study schedule unless you're also riding the pass line in other courses...grab a study buddy, and focus primarily on the testable content of this course.

If you need help, I still remember quite a bit of testable content from OB, I had to study that course harder because my heart wasn't in the course, so the facts are still burned into my brain. Let me know.

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I have a study group, they all passed by a mere margin and I didn't. I did many practice questions, I understood the content too. I used a notecard and a highlighter for the exam because that's how I did really well on the 2nd exam because my problem is I skip words too. I'm just shell shocked and not too sure what to do from here. I really didn't want to be hanging by a string. Just very discouraged that all my studying went to waste, I really don't understand. I guess I will see when we have the exam review

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The thing is, this happens. I've gone into tests thinking I knew the info and then didn't do well. suck it up and finish the rest of the class, you're still passing so in the end, that's the main thing

ps, the studying didn't go to waste, you probably learned a lot so just move on and finish

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Stop the negative energy involved in double-guessing. Start focusing on what you could have done better. This is only ONE test. You will get the hang of them. I used to have problems determining priority. It seemed that ALL the responses were things I would do. Could that have been your issue? The good news is that you are hanging in there and are determined to improve!

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I always find when I feel too confident, I mess up. So I learned to slow down and process what The question says and think it out.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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